Unlovely Yet Beautiful
by escapekey
Summary: The story of how Ruby came to be married to Georgia. Takes place in between where Inman get's killed and their Easter dinner at the end of the movie.
1. Chapter One

Author's Note – This story is to "bridge the gap" between when Inman gets killed and Easter at the end of the movie. It's a Ruby/Georgia (Reid) fanfic because they are my favourite characters of the story. To start my fanfic, I felt the need to overlap a bit. So pardon me if it's not very interesting yet, but it will get better, I promise!

Disclaimer – I do not own the movie or book Cold Mountain, and I'm not making any profit from this story.

* * *

Chapter One

A gust of icy winter wind rattled the crude, wooden door and it banged open. A girl lying alone in a corner sighed irritably at the fact that the unlatched door was free to slam the side of the Cherokee cabin as long as the wind was amused by it. What annoyed her most, however, was that while she lay on that uncomfortable bed of pine boughs, her back stuck with needles, with very limited bedding, and chill wind biting her face, a pair of reunited love-birds sat outside by a crackling fire, unaware that there were actually other human beings in existence at that moment. Yes, even Ruby Thewes could find reasons to complain.

Every now and then, wistful mutters were carried into the cabin with the wind, and when they did, Ruby would sink lower under her blanket, attempting to avoid the kind of talk she despised. Words which made a person weak. Yet she couldn't quite block their whimsical conversation out. Squirming in frustration; groaning. Finally she threw off her thin protection from the cold and ventured out of the cabin and straight into a scene romantic enough to make her snort in disgust. Currently in mid-sentence, Ada looked up sharply and Inman followed suit. With stunned and slightly embarrassed expressions, they waited for Ruby to speak first. And when she did, she didn't attempt to soften her voice.

"Number one, shut that door! It's freezin'!" She slammed the door with all her might and began to walk towards the cabin in which her father slumbered fitfully that night, while continuing to speak. "I'm in there, trying not to hear who's carrying the tray, or who's got the bag of diamonds, and if you're going to be out here all night, I'm just gonna go sleep in here with him!"

Once inside, she shut the door with exaggerated vigour, leaving two pairs of raised eyebrows and flushed cheeks. After muttering an apology to Stobrod, her father, for waking him, she flopped down on a bed adjacent to his, wincing as the pine needles stabbed her back once again, and bitterly feeling the lack of a blanket. While Stobrod's skin was aflame with fever, she knew that inside he must be even colder than she was, so it would be cruel for her to snatch his blanket.

So there she lay, teeth chattering, not even pleasant thoughts to warm her, or at least to distract her mind from the cold. She thought of going back to the other cabin to retrieve her blanket, but with a glance through a knot-hole in the wall she learned that the couple had moved into the cabin to do who knew what. Although Ruby was sure she had a pretty good idea about what they had chosen to do with their night.

It was her father's need for undisturbed sleep that kept Ruby from screaming out in her utter aggravation. So instead, she merely grunted with fists clenching and unclenching threateningly as she rolled onto her side with careful awareness of sharp pine needles, sighing heavily and staring at the abject and grey cabin wall adorned with splinters and knot-holes which welcomed streams of cold air.

Albeit she was very happy for her friend's reunion with her special man, Ruby couldn't help but taste bitterness of his return. On those long summer nights, after Ada read twenty or so pages from Homer's _The Odyssey_, they would plan the future. Their future at Black Cove. Ruby always swore she would never marry; working the farm would be her life goal, and she was content with that. Yet Ada always managed to bring Inman into the picture. When she did, it seemed to Ruby that it created an unbalance, alike to adding too much on one side of a painting.

"When Inman comes home to me, we will be married of course, and he will have to take your place as the man of the house. You, darling, will grow old a spinster and live in the shed."

Ruby always acknowledged the last bit as mere jest, yet the part about Inman replacing her had occasionally stung more than she expected it would. Yet at the time it never seemed a reality. It didn't feel at all possible for Inman to come home. So Ruby continued to take for granted her participation at Black Cove Farm.

But Mr. Inman had returned. After a year of pushing aside any annoyance of Ada's pining for the said gentleman, Ruby had supposed she would hate the fellow. It made the situation much worse when she discovered for herself that he was just fine. Besides a handsome face (after a shave and wash) he seemed to be nice enough and maybe even perfect for Ada. It would have been a whole lot easier had he an impediment for her to point out.

Acceptance had always been a part of her nature. As a young child, she had accepted the fact that she was unwanted by her father and that she would have to take care of her own self. When a situation, welcome or not, presented itself, Ruby would make the best out of the worst. Yet after so many aspirations about the farm, it was quite difficult to let go. She had grown so fond of the little settlement. The large white house as the entire farm's foundation, shaded by lofty trees, barren in the current season. The vegetable garden would have to be weeded and planted in a few months. Sooner than that would she have to plough the fields where corn would be sewn. When the leaves started to unfurl, the lambing season would begin, and long nights would be spent helping the ewes with birth, or making sure newborns didn't freeze.

As her mind dwelled in Black Cove, Ruby suddenly worried what was becoming of the farm currently. _That Georgia boy better be keeping up with the work. I wonder if he'll remember to milk the cow_, she thought briefly, but moved on to think of something else, for she knew how Ada would tease if she found out that Ruby had been thinking on Georgia. But the thought that soon it wouldn't be her job to worry about the farm caused her eyes to well up. _Stop right now Ruby, _she screamed in her mind's loudest voice. _You have not shed one tear since you was eight years old and left alone in the mountains. _

Yet somehow it was comforting to know that she could still cry. So as she squeezed her hands between her thighs to warm them, she did not attempt to dam the river of tears.


	2. Chapter Two

_Chapter Two_

The entire farm had been left in his care. It felt like power had been gained, yet he knew not what to do with it. The only words Ruby had left with him were short, and lacked details in her rush to leave. "Make sure you keep up with the work, and milk that cow when she needs it. Yourself, sleep in the hayloft and don't come out if intruders come around." Those were her words of parting.

The boy had never been in charge of a farm before. To say that he had rarely even worked on a farm before was much more in accordance to the truth. For most of his life in Georgia, he had made his keep as a travelling musician, returning to home every now and then.

So when Ruby said milk the cow when she needs it, he didn't know when she needed it. Yet he was very eager to please her. He thought very hard on the subject of what must be done on a farm. First he decided that maybe the cow would like to roam around and find food in the woods. So he unlatched the barn door and the cow wandered off and disappeared in the trees, a trail of frozen breath streaming behind her. Then he went to the henhouse to search for eggs. When there were none to be found, he assumed that that job must have been done sometime earlier in the morning. So he sat balanced on the railing of the front porch, while the end of his nose froze over from the sharp air, and he looked about Black Cove with interest. Since it was yet winter, more than half of the farm wasn't functioning. The vegetable garden consisted only of the remains of the summer's crops; dry tomato vines, rotting pumpkin patches. Everything was brown and dead.

Glancing at the sky, Georgia estimated it to be close to six o'clock, as the sun was sinking low in the west. That meant Ruby and Ada had only been gone an hour. They wouldn't have reached the resting place of Stobrod and Pangle for many hours yet.

In the distance, Cold Mountain pierced the rose coloured sky, threatening to the boy. For his first time in those mountains, they sure hadn't given him reason to compliment them. Each of his companions could be found buried there, the latest of which would be frozen underground later that day. First there had been Doyle, his cousin. Together they had set out to join the war, but both grew sick of it. Georgia didn't see glory in the slaughter of men, no matter what colour their jacket was. Doyle just thought the job tiresome and more than he bargained for. So together they ran, aiming for their homeland. But confused about directions they became, and found themselves lost. Somewhere along the way, they must have had unknowingly taken a wrong turn. So tangled in a web of highways, country roads, paths, and footpaths they were, until by some chance they ended up in the mountains surrounding the great Cold Mountain. Caught in a snowstorm and unacquainted with the current date, they stumbled across a small cave which they took shelter in for the night. There in that cave, Doyle met his doom, for he caught the flu. He passed within nights, and left only one boy from Georgia to live alone in the little cleft in the side of a mountain. And now Stobrod and Pangle, the musicians, would soon join Doyle under the frozen ground.

As the sun dipped lower beyond the mountain ridges, the boy resolved that perhaps it was time to find the cow, for night was coming on and she would probably freeze in the dark. He slipped off the white railing of the porch and started for the woods, his feet crunching in old snow. By that time, the air was beginning to change to blue; the sun slowly burned out and became a dim orange sliver on the horizon. When he reached the edge of the trees, the height of them blocked completely any of the remaining light. Faintly, in the twilight, the boy spied dim indents in the snow, indicating where the cow had travelled. He continued on through the woods, weaving between bare trees, branches like the claws of ancient women. The cow was nowhere in sight, and there was no evidence of its presence. All was silent. He thought of calling the beast, but its name was unknown to him.

Then there was a crunch in the snow. Somewhere behind him, an animal sighed. He turned to the sound and went to it, peering through the dim light for the cow. Yet it was not a cow in which he found. In a tiny clearing not twenty feet before him, several horses stood still, save for the odd stamp of an impatient or cold foot. One man, large around his girth, slid off his horse and sauntered towards the boy, who felt something of a threat in the strange riders. Soon after the large man approached, a few others drew nearer on their horses and pulled up behind him.

The large man spoke first. "Where are Miss Monroe and Miss Thewes?"

The boy said nothing in response.

An extensive abdomen jiggled in laughter, and the others snickered. "He's dumber than that fat boy we shot."

A sudden wave of realisation flooded over the boy. He now recognized the man. Teague and his band of Home Guard.

"Are you from around here, boy?" Teague inspected him as carefully as he could in the growing dark.

"No," the boy muttered.

"I bet it's safe to say you're from the state of Georgia?"

No answer. Teague appeared to be pleased with the awkward silence. "Well then, maybe my friend Birch, here, you will talk to."

A slim boy leapt from his horse and landed right in front of Georgia. The now rising moon reflected off his white-blonde hair. He brandished a pistol and thwacked Georgia's temple. Stunned, the boy stumbled back and tripped over a tree root and landed on his rump. A trickle of blood travelled down his cheek.

The white-haired boy pulled Georgia to his feet and shoved a sharp knee into his stomach, causing Georgia to retch violently.

"You don't talk much, do yah?" Teague spat in Georgia's eyes. "Speak up, boy."

Georgia shook his head. Whatever business they had with Ruby and Ada, he would have no part in it. His silent mouth resulted in a hard blow of the pistol across his face. Taking a retaliating swing at Birch, Georgia flew past him blindly and almost lost control of his feet. Teague's rifle came down hard on Georgia's bent back. He fell to his knees, grunting quietly in pain. Teague circled around and kneeled in front of him.

"Where have Ada and her slave girl gone?" Teague bellowed once again. It seemed it would be the last time he asked, for he cocked his rifle and aimed right between Georgia's eyes.

"They're in the mountains, that way," Georgia gasped and nodded his head in the general direction. "I'm not saying no more."

Teague's lips parted into a malicious grin. "Oh, we shall talk more later." With that said, he hit his rifle across Georgia's head so hard that he knew no more.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Ruby determined in her mind that she would not say a word to Ada about anything she thought about last night. When she awoke the next morning, she felt afresh, and little of the emotions she experienced the night before were as extreme now. Ruby suspected that late at night, feelings rage intensely.

That morning dawned cold and quiet. The entire forest around the Cherokee village reeked with anticipation. Waiting on something unknown to Ruby, and that unsettled her. A single, distant crow sent out a threatening caw, and in the silence of the woods, Ruby guessed it to be a mile away.

She rolled her eyes impatiently as she walked briskly past Ada and Inman smooching near the cabin. Lugging a saddle over to the horse, Ruby prepared the horse for her daddy to ride home. She noted that the horse most likely hadn't been brushed for two days in the very least, and she would have to see to that.

"Alright then, daddy, the horse is waitin'," she called into the cabin, now covered with a light frosting of snow that had fallen during the night. She tilted her head back and peered at the sky. Dense stratus clouds formed a grey blanket, impending snow some time during the day.

Stobrod made his first appearance out of the cabin since Ruby had laid him on his bed the day before so he could rest. A bit of colour was starting to return to his face on his cheeks and around his eyelids. His pace was shaky as he struggled to walk, and Ruby rushed to help him. Albeit he had had injured his shoulder, and not his legs, his movements were slow and lumbering from weakness. She aided him in climbing onto the saddle and made sure he was secure on the horse's back.

Ruby turned over her shoulder and called to Ada and Inman, "Alright then, this old man's ready," she tapped her daddy's leg to indicate him as being the one she spoke of. "Let's go then, Ada. Inman, you take my daddy home a different way."

"Can't we all just go together?" Ada whined. She glanced at her Inman and gripped him close.

"Ruby's right," Inman sighed, "it'd be less conspicuous."

Ada snuggled her head under his freshly shaved chin. "I just don't want to let you go again."

Inman planted a kiss on her white forehead and then dropped his arms to his sides. She still clung to him. After holding him another moment, she reluctantly loosened her grip until they broke apart and she walked unhappily over to Ruby.

A shotgun was resting against the side of a cabin nearby, and Ruby snatched it up and began down a rough path. She had almost disappeared from view before Ada put her back to Inman and followed after Ruby at a brisk walk to make up the distance Ruby had covered alone.

An hour of hiking. Most of their trek was downhill, and they found themselves running to save from losing their balance. Ruby walked mostly in silence as Ada chattered about many things. Then she spoke of Inman. "I presumed it would be strange to be with him all night. But after the initial unfamiliarity, I felt at home. I want to marry him, Ruby."

Ruby only half listened. She didn't want to let it bother her again, this talk of Ada's future without her. One good cry was enough. But at that current time, she felt the need to pay close attention to their surroundings and not to Ada's dreamy talk.

A bare shrub rustled. Ruby raised the shotgun, and a hare darted out onto the path. It stared at the two women, then flicked it's ears and fled into the underbrush.

"It's too quiet, Ada." Ruby said in a monotonous tone.

Ada seemed not to have noticed. They continued to half walk, half jog down the mountainside. When they came to a clearing, Ruby slowed her pace cautiously.

A horse snorted. Ruby readied her gun, but Ada whispered, "it's probably only Stobrod and Inman. They just miscalculated and ended up too close to us."

Ruby paid her no heed. Then she saw them. Ten or twelve horsemen, all began closing in on them from all sides of the clearing. It was the Home Guard. Teague urged his horse towards Ruby and Ada. "You know," he snarled, "aiding those who abandon the army, is a serious offence. You can thank your friend Georgia, here, for helping us find you."

That's when Ruby saw the bundle lying across Teague's horse, in front of him. Georgia feebly raised his head and coughed. Blood spattered the snow.

Just then, a horse whinnied from above. Ruby snapped her head in the direction and saw Stobrod racing down the hill, almost sliding off one side of his horse. Inman was sprinting behind.

"Is that man impossible to kill?" Teague bellowed from his abdomen as he raised his gun. He fired a few shots that missed by inches. Ruby rushed to Teague's horse and pulled him off, only to receive the butt of his gun in her face. Tears rushed to her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall.

"Ruby!" Georgia yelled weakly and jumped off the horse. He fell to his knees and couldn't get up.

Ruby wavered and fell to the ground as the world spun around her. The events that followed were dim.

Another shot was fired. Teague lay slumped against a tree. Inman and the blonde boy had raced off on horses. As Georgia crawled over to Ruby and touched her arm gently, Ruby only faintly heard the last gunshot and Ada's scream.

* * *

Sorry guys if this isn't according to the book or movie, I wrote it fast and I didn't remember exactly what happened. I'm just trying to get this part out of the way. Reviews would be most appreciated! 


	4. Chapter Four

A/N Sorry guys about the wait. I've been busy with school and personal issues I won't repeat here. Enjoy chapter four! _

* * *

_

_Chapter Four_

Stobrod and the Georgia boy kept hidden in the cellar even after the meeting with the Home Guard. Albeit Teague and Birch were no longer a threat to them, Ruby insisted they do so for a while longer. At least until the war began to die down. Far away, the war still raged on, even though their personal battles were over with. The boy sat beside the elder man in the damp of the root cellar beside a keg of apple cider. The cellar smelled of mold and rot and damp stored food. Yet it was drier than most situations Georgia had experienced in the past year. He jumped as a rat scuttled past his hand, beyond into the gloom. His head throbbed from the beating he had received only a day ago. He had only seen the daylight a few times since then. He imagined his eyes had grown to popping out of his face to see better in the dark.

He put a hand up and touched the egg-sized bump on his forehead. The pain was intense, yet he did not complain while his friend lay beside him with a bullet hole in his shoulder. At least the old man's fever had gone down. He was still hot on the wet floor, but he seemed much better now.

It was cold. Frost seeped through the stony cellar wall, and Georgia could feel it in his bones. He wondered at the women's lack of good manners. He had been sitting in that cellar for over twenty-four hours and they still hadn't come down with any sort of bedding.

After he finished that thought, footsteps clunked down the creaky cellar stairs. It was that pretty girl, Ruby. He smiled inwardly as she approached him. She looked less happy to see him.

"Georgia boy!" She yelled. He stared. She knelt down beside him and hit him. He groaned as her fist made contact with his already purple and black eye. Georgia squinted though the dim light up at her face. It was not made any less appealing by her anger. Instead, her flaming cheeks and angry eyes had a dazzling glow.

"What was that for?" He said quietly as he tenderly touched his swollen eye.

"You lost our cow!" Her eyes glinted like cold steel. "I paid for that cow with fourteen cabbages, five sacks of cornmeal, two sacks of flour, two chickens…"

He cut in as she kept on talking, "I didn't lose it. I let it out for a walk, and when I went to find it, I was abducted."

"…a bushel of potatoes, and…oh." She blushed. "Well then. In the mornin', you and I are gonna look for her. I'll be here nice and early, so be ready."

Georgia nodded his dark head. She had a tough persistence about her. What she said was most likely the final word. He acknowledged and respected that.

"Good gosh, it's freezin' down here!" She said as if she never expected a cellar to be cold. She hugged her arms to her chest. Georgia nodded again.

Silence. Yet she still knelt there in front of him, looking anywhere but at his face. His eyes were fixed on hers, however. She was everything a woman should be in his opinion. Confident, tough around the edges, yet deep down he knew she was soft. She would never let on to anyone though. Being harsh was her armor. He suspected a difficult childhood, and after years of lying alone, she must have learned to shut out those feelings. It was something he could relate to.

Finally she spoke. "I could sleep upstairs with Ada."

Georgia raised an eyebrow questioningly, but she didn't appear to have seen him, so he asked her what she meant.

"If I slept upstairs in Ada's room, then you and daddy could have my shed. It's a lot warmer than this." She had never looked more uncomfortable. She wrung her hands and bit her lip awkwardly. Georgia supposed it was not in her nature to make such offers.

Then she suddenly straightened up. "Time to make my nightly rounds before bed. You can help my daddy to the shed then?" Then she turned and disappeared into the darkness.


End file.
